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Niqab ban in sexual assault trial causes controversy

Still from "Uproar in Canada over face-veil ban", Al Jazeera English. 18 April 2010.

A Canadian woman filing charges of sexual assault will be required to remove her niqab to testify against her alleged attackers. On Wednesday, a Toronto judge ruled that the woman's niqab (or face veil) “masks her demeanour and blocks...effective cross-examination by counsel for the accused". The decision applies to the preliminary hearings where she is expected to face her uncle and cousin, whom she accuses of sexually abusing her during her childhood.

The woman, known as "NS", has fought the Canadian court to wear her niqab during hearings since the case began. A five-year series of decisions and appeals led all the way to the country's supreme court, which ruled in 2012 that the issue should be decided on a case-by-case basis. The supreme court ruling requires the provincial court to consider both the weight of the individual's "religious conviction" and the impact on trial fairness before issuing a decision for the niqab to be removed. "NS" plans to appeal the most recent decision.

Being bare-faced in court is a bona fide requirement in a democratic society, just as it is at border security points – the same woman said she would take off her niqab for border checks.theglobeandmail.com

Commenters on the op-ed echoed support for the decision. From Stan Duptali:

This is a no brainer. When Sikhs wear a ceremonial kirpan, it has very little effect on others. Women should be free to wear whatever they want in homes, places of worship and in public, but in a court of law, there is a danger that the ability to hide behind a niqab could land someone else in jail. Expression, emotion and inflection all play a crucial role in determining the truth. Denying others the opportunity to observe those displays is unacceptable.theglobeandmail.com

Climaxica pondered what the case meant for the rights of the accused parties:

I'm not sure if the right to face your accuser is an actual right in Canada like it is in the US, but it does have a lot of merit and goes towards a fair trial. Imagine being charged with sexual assault, but when you go to court, the person who is accusing you is hidden and you can't see them...It's almost Kafkaesque in that sense as you aren't allowed to see your accuser.theglobeandmail.com

Georges Sioufi said that appearing in court with the niqab is tantamount to anonymous testimony.